FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

North Korea and South Korea Begin High-Level Talks To Prepare Peninsula Summit

March 29, 2018 (EIRNS)—Officials of the South Korean Ministry of Unification held talks with their North Korean counterparts at Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone today, to discuss preparations for a summit meeting between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea. “We will hold close consultations with North Korea’s representatives to see to it that the summit is successful,” Minister of Unification Cho Myoung-gyon, who leads the South Korean delegation, said before the beginning of the talks. The delegation also includes his deputy Chun Hae-sung, and the spokesman, Yoon Young-chan, for South Korea’s President, according to TASS.

The Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun also reported today, quoting North Korean leaders, that Kim Jong-un is open to a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, possibly in June. Abe had hinted at such a meeting recently. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, responding to this report, told a news conference today, “We maintain dialogue with North Korea through various channels and tools, including the Embassy in Beijing.” He would not say whether a summit was being planned.